In 2001, N. Alan McKee sought to locate a solid waste handling facility in the City of Geneva City. In accordance with OCGA § 12-8-24 g, he requested written verification from the City that the proposed facility did not violate any zoning or land use ordinances and that it was consistent with all solid waste management plans SWMP. No zoning or land use ordinance precluded McKee from proceeding. However, his request for verification was denied on the ground that the proposed facility did not comply with the City’s SWMP. McKee then filed a mandamus and declaratory judgment action seeking to compel the City to issue the verification. After conducting a hearing, the trial court denied the petition, from which order McKee appeals directly. See Mid-Ga. Environmental Mgmt. Group v. Meriwether County , 277 Ga. 670, 671 1 594 SE2d 344 2004. 1. OCGA § 12-8-24 g provides, in relevant part, that the verification must attest to the proposed facility’s compliance “with the local, multijurisdictional, or regional SWMP developed in accordance with standards promulgated pursuant to this part subject to the provisions of Code Section 12-8-31.1 . . . .” The City approved a regional SWMP in 1993, and in 1995, it further approved a multijurisdictional Comprehensive Plan CP. The trial court agreed with the City’s position, and held that McKee’s proposed facility must comply with the provisions of the CP, as well as those of the SWMP.
McKee contends that the 1995 CP is inapplicable, and urges that he is entitled to verification because he proposes to develop a solid waste handling facility that fully complies with the SWMP as the City approved it in 1993. The SWMP, as it was originally approved, does not expressly address solid waste handling facilities in substantive terms. Instead, it merely provides that one of its “GOALS” was to insure that proposed solid waste handling facilities are located in areas suitable for such developments in the Talbot County CP which will be developed in 1994-95 and not in areas of Talbot County identified as having environmental or other significant development or land limitations. Thus, the SWMP, as it was approved in 1993, did not preclude locating a facility for the handling of solid waste in the City, because no unsuitable locations for such facilities were identified. Thereafter, the City never formally amended the SWMP so as to incorporate the CP.
